MODERN PERSIA AND ITS CAPITAL 



375 



The southern part of Teheran is an 

 undisturbed bit of old Persia — the great 

 bazaars, the narrow, twisting, dirty alleys 

 with their filthy gutters, the blind- fronted 

 adobe house walls, and the unkempt, 

 sickly people, who stare or hoot at the 

 foreign interloper, all representative of 

 that major portion of Persian city life as 

 yet untouched by Western ways. 



ARTILLERY SQUARE; IS THE; HEART OF 

 TEHERAN 



The city centers around a large public 

 plaza, the Maidan-e-Toop Khaneh, or 

 Artillery Square, which has been devel- 

 oped into a public park, where a number 

 of antiquated cannon, the spoils of for- 

 mer conquests, are exhibited. 



Fronting the eastern end of this square 

 is the headquarters of the British-man- 

 aged Imperial Bank of Persia, a striking 

 building of gayly adorned Perso-Euro- 

 pean architecture. Facing the square on 

 the other three sides are arched and bal- 

 conied military barracks. 



Six important avenues lead, through 

 brilliantly tessellated, arched gateways, 

 from this inclosure. From the north- 

 eastern corner Khiaban-e-Lalehzar, or 

 Tulip Field Avenue, the chief business 

 street, runs north, past the post-office and 

 custom-house. From the corresponding 

 northwestern corner the Khiaban-e-Ala- 

 ed-Dowleh, along which are located many 

 of the important legations and the two 

 European hotels, parallels this street. 



Long tramway streets run east and 

 west ; from the southeastern corner a 

 busy thoroughfare leads to the bazaars, 

 and through the southwestern gateway 

 passes the broad, tree-arched Khiaban-e- 

 Almasieh, the Avenue of Diamonds, to 

 the royal palace. 



The palace, with the treasury, foreign 

 office, royal college, telegraph depart- 

 ment, and various other government 

 buildings, is located within the old, mud- 

 walled citadel. 



One is struck by the abundance of 

 clear, flowing water in the well-kept pal- 

 ace gardens, and although the buildings 

 themselves are architecturally and struc- 

 turally disappointing, they are substan- 

 tially built of brick and exceedingly in- 

 teresting because of their bizarre and 

 fantastic exterior and interior decoration. 



The royal museum is well worth a visit, 

 for in a somewhat amusing conglomer- 

 ation of trinkets, ranging all the way 

 from an American company's sewing- 

 machine advertisements to a collection of 

 mechanical clocks, there are many rare 

 treasures, among them being the sword 

 of Tamerlane, the famous jeweled globe, 

 and either the original or a replica of the 

 jewel-studded Peacock Throne supposed 

 to have been taken by Xader Shah in the 

 sack of Delhi. 



Teheran's handicap as a modern city is 

 felt in her lack of fine historic institu- 

 tions. There are no mosques or religious 

 colleges of any distinguished antiquity or 

 holiness, although modern ones are nu- 

 merous. The finest is the Masjid-e- 

 Sepahsalar, which was built by a former 

 prime minister. It stands in the northern 

 part of the city, near the Baharistan Pal- 

 ace, at one time the residence of this same 

 official, but since the granting of the Con- 

 stitution in 1906 occupied by the Persian 

 Parliament. 



TEHERAN HAS ITS AVIATION FIELD 



A somewhat unusual point of interest 

 is the great Maidan-e-Mashk, or Drill 

 Square, a forty-acre military parade 

 ground in the midst of the city, not far 

 north of the central square, which is one 

 of the largest inclosures of its kind in the 

 world. At present it is used chiefly as a 

 race-course, and by the young Persians. 

 who are enthusiastically adopting this 

 Western game, as a football field. It is 

 also proving an admirable flying field for 

 recently introduced airplanes. 



There is a splendid, unobstructed view 

 of the great mountain range north of the 

 city from this large field, as well as of 

 the mighty snow-clad cone of Demavend, 

 which, off to the northeast, holds its soli- 

 tary position nearly four miles upward in 

 the clear blue heavens (see text, pages 

 393 to 400). 



However unalterable the laws of the 

 ancient Medes and Persians may have 

 been, it would be incorrect to speak of 

 present-day Persia as unchanging. The 

 traveler who reaches this conclusion after 

 noting habits and customs handed down 

 from Achsemenian times has failed to 

 consider that the passing Persian civiliza- 

 tion never reached the submerged masses 



